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Division Spotlight
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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August 2025
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July 2025
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Latest News
Nuclear fuel cycle reimagined: Powering the next frontiers from nuclear waste
In the fall of 2023, a small Zeno Power team accomplished a major feat: they demonstrated the first strontium-90 heat source in decades—and the first-ever by a commercial company.
Zeno Power worked with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to fabricate and validate this Z1 heat source design at the lab’s Radiochemical Processing Laboratory. The Z1 demonstration heralded renewed interest in developing radioisotope power system (RPS) technology. In early 2025, the heat source was disassembled, and the Sr-90 was returned to the U.S. Department of Energy for continued use.
J. Mao, V. Vishwakarma, Z. Welker, C. K. Tai, I. A. Bolotnov, V. Petrov, A. Manera
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 198 | Number 7 | July 2024 | Pages 1404-1425
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2241800
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To provide computational fluid dynamics (CFD)–grade experimental data for studying stratification, measurements on the High-Resolution Jet (HiRJet) facility at the University of Michigan have been conducted with density differences of and , respectively. Fluid with a density different from the fluid initially present in the HiRJet tank was injected, and the propagation of the time-dependent density stratification was captured on a two-dimensional plane with the aid of the wire-mesh sensor technique for Reynolds numbers near 5000 and Richardson numbers near 0.29. Direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of the two cases have also been conducted to expand the multifidelity database. The novel experimental and DNS data were then used to assess the predictive capabilities of the Standard (SKE) model and the Reynolds Stress Transport (RST) model. In particular, the propagation speed and thickness of the stratification fronts were assessed by comparing the CFD results against the experimental and DNS data. It was found that the general trends of the stratified density fronts were well predicted by the CFD simulations; however, slight overprediction of the thickness of the stratification layer was found with the SKE model while the RST model gave a larger overprediction of the mixing. Examination of the turbulent statistics showed that the turbulent viscosity was largely overpredicted by the RST model compared to the SKE model.